Characteristics of Bow-Tie Antenna Structures for Semi-Insulating GaAs and InP Photoconductive Terahertz Emitters

This work presents a study of photoconductive (PC) terahertz (THz) emitters based upon varied bow-tie (BT) antenna structures on the semi-insulating (SI) forms of GaAs and InP. The BT antennas have electrodes in the form of a Sharp BT, a Broad BT, an Asymmetric BT, a Blunted BT, and a Doubled BT. The study explores the main features of PC THz emitters for spectroscopic studies and sensors application in terms of THz field amplitude and spectral bandwidth. The emitters’ performance levels are found to depend strongly upon the PC material and antenna structure. The SI-InP emitters display lower THz field amplitude and narrower bandwidth compared to the SI-GaAs emitters with the same structure (and dimensions). The characterized Doubled BT structure yields a higher THz field amplitude, while the characterized Asymmetric BT structure with flat edges yields a higher bandwidth in comparison to the sharp-edged structures. This knowledge on the PC THz emitter characteristics, in terms of material and structure, can play a key role in future implementations and applications of THz sensor technology.